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Thursday, 2 January 2014

Blog Tour: Cursed by Trakena Prevost

I received a copy of Cursed in exchange for my review.

As the daughter of the head Dorgai of Chicago, Jasmine has a lot to live up to, and along with her team, including her best friend Khan, she leads raids to free humans from the power of beings like the Dorgai but with less control. But when Jazz gets distracted by revenge during a raid she ends up cursed, the change pushed upon her too quickly. If left to run its course she would kill humans when she fed upon their Chi. She has two options to fight it, to kill the man that placed the curse on her before she changes completely, or to learn to control the feeding and become compatible with her Dorgai upbringing.

I found that the concept of this book was interesting. Particularly as at one point the Dorgai are compared to Incubuses and Succubuses (but without having to do so during sex, of which there are only references to in this book as opposed to scenes, in case my mention of succubuses puts you off!) It made me think about whether the two groups were actually different, or whether they were more or less the same but just had different philosophies. In some ways it reminded me of the vampires and vampaneze in one of my favourite series from growing up, The Saga of Darren Shan.

You have the almost classic best friends actually love each other in this book, though it actually takes Jazz and Khan much less time to get on with it than most other books do, though I can see a bit of a love triangle going to form with the introduction of Cal. Particularly as he didn't turn out to be the all evil looney that Jazz expected him to be (particularly once his father had told her that she was going to marry him).

Something particularly interesting in this book though was that Jazz's dad played quite a large role, normally supernatural teens don't seem to actually have all that much to do with their parents, and yet Jazz's dad went to find her, and was worried about her. Made a refreshing change I must admit!

This series has intrigued me already, and I am interested to see what the rest has in store.

CURSED

TRAKENA PREVOST

Blurb: Half-succubus Jazz
Watkins spends her days navigating the halls of Moreland High and
her nights knee deep in Chicago drug dens hunting Suecai – an evil kind of
incubi and succubae who devour the souls of humans. But when a leader of the
Suecai curses her, Jazz has to track him down. Either she kills him before the
curse burns through her, or she’ll become a full-fledged, out of control, soul
sucking monster.

She’s got a handful of weeks, absolutely no leads, and her
sexy best guy-friend and team member, Khan, covering her back. But will the
growing attraction she feels for Khan get in the way of her mission to save her
own life?

Author Bio:

Trakena Prevost was born and raised in the great state of
Texas, where everything IS bigger and the people are very friendly. She
spends most of her time oscillating between being completely obsessed with
reading and watching Korean dramas, and writing down the fantastic
tales rumbling around in her head. When not reading and writing, Trakena spends
her time working in HR for a major medical system in Houston,
and hanging out with her family and friends.

Trakena has always loved the many worlds she's found in
books, where everything was possible. As a child, you would often catch her enjoying
a good story in the comfort of the AC, instead of wilting in the Houston heat
(she showed great intelligence...even then). It didn't occur to Trakena that
the fanciful stories she made up for fun could one day be out in the world, but
now that they are she can't imagine it any other way!

When he walked out the bathroom, the
nerves I’d thought I’d turned to steel started to quiver. What if he refused
me? Khan was just as stubborn as I was. How could I possibly ask this of him?
How could I get him to understand?

I took a deep breath and looked at him.
“Khan, we need to talk.”

“Uh oh, that’s never what a guy wants
to hear from his girl.”

My stomach fluttered, but I refused to
give into the distraction. “I have a plan…in case we don’t find and kill the
Gunshi. But I need your help to pull it off.”

He didn’t look taken aback, just more
determined than anything. “Jazz, it’s too soon for you to give up now. We’ve
got some really good leads, we can do this!”

I shook my head. “I’m not giving up,
Khan. I never give up…you know that.” I smiled at him and was rewarded with one
in return. “But…being a leader means having to think outside of myself…you and
my dad taught me that. We have to prepare for all possibilities – even this.”

His dark eyes flashed and, for a
second, I thought I was in for a long and hard fight. Then understanding washed
over his features and he nodded. “As long as you promise this doesn’t mean
you’ve given up.”

“Not even close – and giving in doesn’t
even sound like me.”

He snorted. “That’s for sure.”

I rolled my eyes. “Okay, I think we can
do this, but if not…I have a forgetting tonic to erase my memories. That way,
in the very least, the vermin can’t use my knowledge against everyone I love.”

Khan jerked. “Where in the hell did
you…?” Then he groaned. “Claudine.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “She always
has been good at knowing what I need.”

His face was hard. “Okay, so I’ll make
sure to wipe away your memories. I’ll erase everything that makes you, you –
everything I’ve grown to know and care about. We done?”

I paused. “Not quite.”

He flinched. “I figured something more
was coming when you said, ‘In the least’.”

I almost didn’t have the guts to
continue. “Think about it, Khan. You can’t just leave me there, a newbie Suecai
with the urge to feed. What if I came across my mom one day? Or your dad?

“You might not be able to do it
immediately – there’s no telling how strong I’ll be at first or how protected –
but eventually you’ll have to take me out! I shuddered at the thought. “What
else can we do?”

The rage flew through his features even
more quickly than when I’d told him I couldn’t be his Valentine in the sixth
grade.

“Anything, Jazz,” Khan whispered. “We
fight. We search. We keep pounding the pavement until we find that bastard. We
do anything and everything.”

Words escaped me. A boulder set
squarely on my chest and wouldn’t budge. I should’ve known this wouldn’t be
easy – hadn’t I spent my entire life traipsing around Chicago with Khan? I
shouldn’t have expected anything else.

Khan seemed to take my silence as an
opportunity to change my mind. “You could learn control, Jazz, become a
full-fledged Dorgai.” There it was, that secret hope I held deep in my heart
that I was too scary to speak out loud.

“Khan, that’s impossible. There’s no
way I can learn control if I’m forced into feeding too fast. The only way we
halfers manage it is by taking an entire year to ease into the process. All of
Dad’s advisors are agreed that I’ll become an uncontrollable Suecai.”

“I can’t believe that, Jazz. It can’t
happen. Not to you.”

I couldn’t focus. My need to be
rational kept battling the little girl within me reaching for a solution, any
solution.

I didn’t notice Khan moving until it
was too late.

Before I could say something to break
the bubble, Khan stood over me, his face inches from mine. His eyes were warm
and I could feel the heat of his breath, minty from his recent trip to the
bathroom. My heart stopped. And then he was kissing me, slow and deep at first,
and then with a heat and passion I’d only guessed he possessed.